Why This Is a Perfect Melody 

UF is still my fave record of theirs.

Dundrum?

Good for you mate!

@@ThePeterako black horse Avenue, Navan Road, Dublin.He was at a former DJs house that lived along that road.

Personally I prefer tuf to tjt

It’s scripture from the book of Isaiah chapter 40

And it’s Scripture again in the lyrics; from Isaiah 40, which is one of their songs as well.

@@TeresaRussell49 Yep, Isaiah 40:31 - it was my mom’s favorite Bible verse, and I thought it was so cool that U2 used it.

Adam Clayton's bass work compliments Edge perfectly.

The man who inspired me to play guitar. I may be a shredder, but without Edge or _I Will Follow,_ I wouldn't be playing at all.

No one else plays like him No one else plays like No one No

Johnny marr is extremely unique

Track order is part of the art as well. A buddy of mine likes create playlists to reorder tracks on albums that he didn’t think quite nailed it.

This is one of the better deep cuts you will find.

I’d say the same about Unforgettable Fire. War/UF/Joshua Tree is one of the greatest three album sequences in music history.

@@ctbadger I was a U2 fan early on. I never heard any "I hate U2" from anyone until around Achtung Baby when Bono started acting like an overprivledged ass.

@@massivereader You obviously know nothing about Bono. If he heard you say that he would likely make a joke about it because anyone who has spent any time with him knows that he is anything but. I've spent enough time with him over the years to know first hand. Now, if you want to talk about an "overprivileged ass" then look no further than Chris Martin. He's a piece of work.

This song was part of my young adult reality. Listened to this cassette over & over. Gorgeous voice. Lyrics of love.

For me, born in 1965, the greatest rock band of my generation.

Bono uses vocal effects all the time, dummy.

@@curly_wyn when?

@@mysticedge4 Whenever U2 were recording in the studio for an album, Bono used effects to tweak his vocals to where the sounded to the producer’s liking, since Bono notoriously (and imo rightfully) hates his voice.

Much love ❤

💜

💙

Love this song. 😊

Absolutely. It's like Heartland, Dirty Day, Fez/Being Born or Book Of Your Heart. You know you're in the presence of a real fan if they react to those songs in a more passionate way than to WOWY, Vertigo, One or Pride.

Easily of my favourites by them, War has some really good songs on it

Boy: Into the Heart, Another Time Another Place

@@fishtailfred8686 Into The Heart (and An cat Dubh ) have always been my least favorites from Boy, but ATAP is an absolute gem, just like Shadows And Tall Trees, Stories For Boys, Twilight and the more known ones (IWF, OOC, Electric Co). Boy is one of the best debuts album in rock history if you ask me.

@J Smith Tremendous story man, cheers from Costa Rica

Listening to U2 in their prime on foggy days, living on a boat, yours seems to have been a great experience. Care to elaborate?

I dig your story! I grew up boating on the south shore of LI, so I can really relate. We would take summer family cruises, making our way around Montauk Point and then stay at various ports of call on the LI Sound. Many were along the CT coastline, and we were fogged in many times.

Interesting the buoy foghorn analogy. Have a listen to the intro to The Bounty (the actual film soundtrack) by Van Gelis

Very much agree, and it is great to see you commenting on a Beato video. The comics/culture/music crossover I'm thrilled to see!

Agreed. There is something haunting and other worldly about early U2 stuff. War has always been one of my favourite albums. I know it sounds silly to say that a band as successful as U2 are underrated as songwriters but sometimes I think it’s easy to overlook their abilities.

@@DoctorDave5 Absolutely. They also have been one of my favourite bands of all time since I came across Boy way back in early 81. I went off them when they released The Joshua Tree as it felt like a sell out to what made them great. Even Bono seriously considered calling the record pressing plant to pull production. It's grown on me over the years but for me Boy and War were where I felt the most connected.

@@jakefallon2335 I still love the Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby but I definitely lean towards the earlier stuff. Boy, October, War and the magnificent Unforgettable Fire. I wore them all out on my turntable!

@@DoctorDave5 Its Ireland in the late '70s / early '80s...haunting yes but also cold, hollow, bleak, chaotic...

Goes to show how little has changed, in many ways, despite our naive, idealistic belief that we could change the world...

well. rap / trap has taken over the past 20 years - so things have changed

Nothing new under the sun

Listen to Joy Division and that is forever relevant! I’m a huge U2 fan by the way!!

it's not crazy ... Great music is always great ... these first 3 albums I think are their strongest, even if not as mature as the subsequent albums.

I would say have a listen to Tomorrow from October. Similar haunting quality !

@@Oblique.strategy Yes! War and October are is such great records, remember when they came out and buying then... the great thing with October/War (and Boy, Unforgettable Fire) is that you really feel Ireland. October and War really sound like Dublin in those moments.... for me these records have so much meaning.

Love Comes Tumbling exists in the same mystical space as this song. It's my favorite U2 song ever.

Some years ago I rediscovered "Promenade" from "The Unforgattable Fire" album, another of those underrated magic songs. I agree this magic is rare (and even Drowning Man reappeared to me as a divine message in a dream after decades that I didn't listen to it and wouldn't even remember it existed), but then Promenade is a song that I always liked but it seems like I never REALLY listened to it. Then all of a sudden, 35 years later, fusshh!, it blew my mind away and had me kinda uplifted to another realm for two days. I'm not kidding.

”Walk to the water” has same magic also I think.

Well said... Sunday Bloody Sunday was like a "flood of fresh water!" UNMATCHED to this very day!!!

Absolutely.. Was also the same for me.

Same. I’m 53. I remember hearing the boy album and my life Changed forever. I heard wide awake in America. Love comes tumbling and it just ripped out my soul. Been hooked ever since. Soundtrack of my life. Even paid $5 to see them 12/19/87 @ sun devil stadium. Not knowing tracks from that stadium show would end up in a movie. Unreal

Same. 61. New Years Day. Lived in England during the beginning of Polish transition to democracy when Lech Walesa (Labor Leader and Union Electrician) was jailed by communist government.

I walked into a record store where the New Year’s Day video was playing. I was immediately in awe. Where all the other videos were “fun”, U2 sang with conviction.

party girl was my fave

Agreed. First heard this when I was a student. The album didn’t leave the turntable for a week. Nothing else got a look in. Still stands up as a great album in my mind. Don’t care what a tit Bono is, U2 smashes it out of the park here

Interestingly, one of my other favourite tracks at the time, was “The Drowning Man” on “Faith” by The Cure

@@markparris3890 became a tit. As many do. The man singing on this album was no tit.

@@NoName-to5xl agreed

Great story Sir, my Ranger school album was Joshua Tree but about 25 years after you! When I was in mountain phase I had Country Roads by John Denver stuck in my head every single day. Probably the longing and desire for home and the beautiful Mountains that surrounded us. For SFAS I had a lot of Foreigner stuck in my head for some unknown reason, not even that big of a fan of them. It’s funny what your mind does when you are deprived of the music you love and what gets stuck in your head. Thank you for your Service and God Bless!

I agree with Rick this being one of the best rock albums ever made. I go a step further and say it is one of my favorite albums. I agree with both you and Rick about Drowning Man and Surrender. These songs are killer and they sound amazing. Certain albums just do it for me, this album, the Cure’s Disintegration album, REM’s Murmur, PE’s Nation of Millions, Floyd’s Dark Side, and Miles’ Kind of Blue. Personally, I think they are just great sounding and written albums.

I might throw "like a song" slightly ahead of "surrender". Nitpicking though. 😁

@@ScottH. agreed, but I’d say way ahead.

Exactly cheers to you my friend

Surrender is a criminally underrated song.

I always try to extract influences or at least previous songs out of the mix. So far, the best I can do with this one is to imagine this as similar to Nights in White Satin and Welcome to the Machine with an unusual more up tempo beat that's a combination of "Two Hearts Beat as One mixed with an almost Latin feel not unlike a song in a Clint Eastwood era western.

@Chris Kennedy In other words, pretty much totally original. LOL. Cheers, man.

Do you like "Yes" Wakeman? First 3 or 4 LP's by Yes I adored!! Have NEVER liked U2/Bono. I'm allowed an opinion!!

I have a music teacher who I won’t name but who is in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame as a drummer that was in a popular 90s group, has won a Grammy and has worked over the past 35 years as producer, mixer, sound engineer for many, many groups. He sometimes shares stories about artists. For example, he doesn’t like the lead singer of the RHCP (or Flea). Said you had to get permission to speak to them. That they never spoke to you or acknowledged you when you walked past them in the hallway. Basically jerks. On the other hand, he said U2 were the nicest of all the artists he’s ever worked with and especially Bono. Said he was at the console and you get a little nervous when Bono comes over and puts his hand on your should and asks, “Do you mind playing measures x and x again?” Said he goes out his way to make you feel comfortable. Before he said this, I’d never been a fan of U2 but admit this made me see them in a new light.

@@jkyles1000 Well that's very admirable of him. But just because a person treats others with respect, follows the golden rule, doesn't make me like their music, sorry.

These younger people think you're not supposed to like em or something - I don't get it myself - they're a massive influence on Me

People tend to hate on anyone who makes it big. Also, the band, or at least Bono, transcends rock n roll with his politics and charity... some people think singers should just shut up and sing, especially if they don't agree with their politics. I love U2, but we live in a world where some people hate what some people love. "Haters gonna hate".

Something for the uninitiated to look forward to in the future. Like eventually reading a classic novel.

Lo que pasa es que es dificil que alguien pudiera superar la trayectoria y records de U2. Eso es lo que odian aunque no lo digan

They are an amazing band, but there is a clear line between their earlier stuff up to Joshua Tree and everything afterwards. I think some U2 diehards draw the line at Joshua Tree.

kinda agree

'Guessinglly AGREE'!

I agree that it kind of sounds like that. I find a lot of U2 songs sound like that. As if they are just repeatedly playing the same short chord progression the whole time and and Bono just sings the first thing that comes to mind on top as in order to find an interesting melody, without the song really melodically progressing anywhere.

@@PowerRedBullTypology (( it's in the production as in 'Not too effective on just guitar and vocal or just piano and vocal' -unless Bono is singing it like an anthemn. Then, the song has a shine to it, especially with that guitarist (slash?). Digressing for a minute, the world seemed a better place when the beast system was using superstar musicians to fraudulently 'save the world' than what has been both blatantly and confusingly been happening after that era. Like SURPRISE! But Bono was one of them that was not fooled by the beast, whether morally right or not.

Oh hell no. This is VERY well rehearsed. The bass in is 6, the drums are in 4, and the melody is a 24 beat phrase so it all comes around like a Swiss watch. That doesn't happen by accident.

I love this story.

Yes! The PASSION!!

This is what I listened to with some of the Joshua tree in my depressive moments of my life, in the wilderness living off the land. Unfortunately, those times I feel are upon me again, time to take my dog, music a little food and dislocate to the wild

@@funkysawmanwright5077 that sounds like a good way to deal with depression. Especially the dog part of it. Hope you're feeling better soon!

Yeah, the same way they despicably treated the Bee Gees. Poor boyos.

They're the New York Yankees of rock. People hate them because they're so successful.

Truth, just like they hated the Bee Gees, so gifted and magical. Always happens.

Why is it always envy? Where is the problem that some people don't like them? Fans cannot handle the fact, that not everybody likes their idols

@@bettinajoseph3758 it's not the people who don't like them. I get that. It's the people who hate them so much that they think that no one should like them at all and so any time someone mentions U2 off they go with trashing them or whining about a free album on their iPhone from 9 years ago.

I was 13 then and know that connection that we will always feel when we hear these songs. Not the hits off the album (that you can’t avoid) but the ones you only hear by choice when you hit play. I am transported back to my 13 year old self.

Rick Beato Preservation Society

You just put into words what I was thinking. Bravo!

I feel this mostly, yes. BUT, I feel also passionately about certain songs from Achtung Baby. In particular "Until the End of The World." It's the beautiful, dreamy place where U2 and Lanois meet and give us music that turns our insides out. Just my opinion...

@@KB-ku4um All of the above is true about the early albums up to Joshua Tree. Then Achtung Baby is my favorite album by U2.

oh yes. mee to!!11 While there are still good songs after Joshua Tree the albums up to and including it ware superiour.

100% Agree But I Adore Actung Baby- & Lemon too!

Hey, I consider music the glue that keeps my sanity together, when all hope is gone, don't let silence fall! Take care!

@@apathtrampledbydeer8446 Thank you, mate. I'm also going to assume you did a Slipknot reference there :-)

@@stokes71 Welcome back, and I hope you can stay for a long long time! (you didn't reply to me personally but still) :)

@@40g33k Not Slipknot actually, but it Says When all hope is gone, don't let silence fall on my In Mourning shirt, Swedish melo death band. :) (stealing shirt quotes)

@@apathtrampledbydeer8446 Thank you, very much appreciated. I too hope I will be around for a long time ;-) Best to you and yours!

Me too. Sometimes I feel like Achtung Baby is my fave of theirs but I find myself listening to War more often. It’s one of those albums (for me at least) where I can listen to every song and not skip any of them.

Lmfao. Still have my vinyl of it.

Glad I bought the full album anyway to give it a try. The best songs are often the least well known.

That’s the reason I’m buying the whole album if I like a single song, you get to find little gems like these

Luckily, this whole album is golden!

Ohh yea. Mixtapes were life! Class of 1988 here. Wouldn’t change a thing. Soundtrack of my life

I think it comes from the fact that they have released the same 5 songs for those 40 years. No hate from my side tho

Marmite is also you either hate or love, (your comment made me laugh) ,still give him props for his talent, but something about that guy makes me cringe..

Maybe it has something to do with Bono being a billionaire and pretending to be one hell of a samaritan by raising funds and development aid whilst avoiding taxes by having his company domicile on Cayman Islands. Apart from his music he is just a f****** hypocrite!

I think part of it is that U2 is undeniably powerful and effective, so if you don’t like what they are doing or (as has often been the case for me) just aren’t in the mood for it, when U2 comes on, you are going to hear a version of whatever you weren’t in the mood for that’s impossible to ignore.

He's an absolute ass, but their early stuff was really good. Not a fan of their more recent works personally, generally think the more recent stuff sounds like hollow imitations of their first three albums

If you don't like a band you just don't listen do it. Simple.

I don't think the U2 haters hate the band because of the music or the vocals.....their prejudice is mainly because of Bono and his message.....preachy.....Christian preachy.....not there's anything wrong with that message or belief but I think it is a reflection of the nature and essence of the haters rather than on U2 or Bono.

I guess a lot of the "haters" are actually old fans, disappointed in what they see and hear today.

Agreed. The song pick being one of the bands' deep cuts is refreshing and shows why this series has so much potential. Interestingly, U2 seems to be growing in popularity again...at least with a certain age group: Just as Millennials tended to reject them in backlash to Gen Xers & Boomers love for them---Gen Zers that hear them tend to like their music.

If they would have gone kaboom in an airplane right after Joshua Tree, they would be sainted.

You left out Boy. That will always be my favorite of theirs, probably because it was so different from everything else out at the time. It made a huge impact on me, though, I guess most people weren’t ready for it yet. It has a tonal quality War approaches but doesn’t quite repeat.

Rattle and Hum, great music also!

100% agree with you @Googerstein

Even with the "fall off" after Achtung Baby, Bono is still one of the best lyricists.

plus the atomic bomb album. number 1 in 27 countries for a reason!!!!

Don’t want to be “that guy” and I’m not trying to spoil your memory, but drowning man has never been played live.

A little more helpful response here- although they have never played the full song live, they have thrown in a snippet of drowning man on occasion, mostly in the 80s. I looked up every MsG U2 show in the 80s and in none of them did they play Into The Heart. However, digging deeper… on 5/11/83 they played the Palladium in NYC and performed Into The Heart, 40, and (wait for it) 11 o clock tick tick with a drowning man snippet. Success! So I think you are misremembering that it was at MSG, but everything else was spot on!

An Cat Dubh/Into the heart is one of the most beautiful, emotional songs ever put on tape by any solo-musician or band!

Yes

The b side of Joshua tree is absolute perfection

My husband and I drove near Arches National Park recently and of course had to plan our Joshua Tree listen to hear Red Hill Mining Town as we wound our way through the literal red mining towns. Still my favorite song from Joshua Tree. Sometimes I think it’s too bad they never figured out how to translate it to concerts, but on the other hand, the vocal performance is just about perfect and couldn’t be equaled or better than what was captured in studio.

Greatest U2 song!

@@jakez5227 My favorite b-side of any album

The Alarm… another great band no one ever talks about. Met Mike Peters and Eddie in Boston the night they recorded “Electric Folklore Live”. Great guys.

I remember Pier 84 - I saw The Smiths there back in the mid 80s. Also saw The Alarm and U2 (Nassau Coliseum in '85) on separate occasions. The Alarm concert was at small college venue, and they were fantastic.

That had to be amazing, I know the area well, yes, the 80's were magical in almost every area of life.

I saw U2 at the Red Rocks on the War tour. Amazing, on absolute fire 🔥 show! Not a single audience member didn't know that U2 was going to be gargantuan? The after show local buzz ran for Months...no joke.. One (if not #1...) of my favorite concerts....

Man, you can’t imagine how lucky you were to be at THAT show! Back in those days, we lived for Under a Blood Red Sky! It was the soundtrack of our sweet teenage revolution.

Yes, The song evokes imagery of a mist that impairs sight, or a metaphorical mist of confusion or despair. And Bono's voice is like an anchor of steadiness perplexingly, but decisively, reaching out to and speaking to the listener out of that mist.

And- the use of uillean pipes on “Tomorrow”!!

The Irish are rather fine storytellers, are they not?

So true. His singing ability & tone are so exceptional that at times that has overshadowed his lyrical genius. He’s actually underrated in this regard. Bono is one of the best lyricists ever.

Well how about that lol

Well said

Split up? U2? Nevarrrrrrrr

Scott Masson They've been together as a band since 1978, and the two times they came close to parting ways was after Live Aid. Bono decided to go off on his own into the crowd without telling the other band members. Larry and the Edge were pissed and were going to fire Bono over the incident. They believed that Bono blew the performance, and the band's opportunity to make a breakthrough. The next day, reviews of their performance came out. Instead of ruining the opportunity for the band to make a breakthrough, the performance propelled them to superstardom. A lot of people felt that U2's performance at Live Aid was second only to the immortal Freddie Mercury and Queen. The second time the band came close to breaking up was after the somewhat disastrous 'Rattle and Hum' Tour across America. The band came to the point of feeling that they had lost their way. While working on 'Achtung Baby' in Berlin, the band came closer than they ever have to calling it quits. The song, 'One', was born out of that tension. U2 continued on and 'Achtung Baby' was the reinvention of the band. I say all that to say that I don't think they will break up. They have remained together, not only as a band, but good friends all these years. I have no idea how many more albums they have in them, and, let's face it, their most iconic work is behind them, I believe. All of the band member, except Larry are either 60 or 61. Larry is 59. Hopefully they have a couple of more albums in them. Hopefully a few more tours. I think the band will end on their own terms. It may come at the end of some future tour where Bono announces, 'Thank you. This is it. We are done This time we are not coming back.' It will be a sad day indeed.

I think the hating is because of Bono's persona. I am sure he is self aware enough to understand and not care.

I loved that album! And the kid is Peter Rowen, who actually became a photographer and photographed bands, including U2.

We have quasi-similar stories. I was introduced to WAR in 1989 when in graduate school, and it was the album that made me a U2 fan (for life since then). And "Drowning Man" was the song that cemented that fandom. I borrowed that cassette for so long from my housemate that he eventually demanded its return and said, "You have to get your own copy." But before he took it back, it was the soundtrack to my student teaching experience in a town on the edge of Appalachia.

War is one of those records that I can still remember exactly how it made my 15 year old self feel when I heard it for the first time in 1983. They didn’t play U2 on the radio where I lived, and I bought the album because the cover was so compelling, as I did with lots of other records back then. It still hits hard and this was a great dissection and celebration , as usual from Rick.

I feel the exact same way. Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby get all the attention and praise, but for me nothing they made ever topped War. It is the first album I recommend to people who dislike U2 because it has such a unique, powerful, but still delicate sound and includes the best Bono vocal performances ever. Plus, most of the songs aren't ballads like their later albums, which is always great.

Thank you for your comments.. I completely forgot about that album and it came out when I was in the 8th grade it's great. You are correct. Absolutely epic album.. Unlike anything going on at that time, and for a long time after

I discovered U2 in August 1984. First time I heard them was live, in Perth WA, at the Entertainment Center. I still remember everything of that night, especially New Year’s Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, and the magnificent 40 at the end of the concert. That was the only time I bought the LP after hearing the live performance, instead of the other way around.

I first saw U2 on this tour and it was like a religious experience! Then again, so were the next two tours!

Lovely description, yes!

Yes I agree about the violin on Sunday Bloody Sunday, all I hear is a violin, a brum and a Irish dancer. It's a pity U2 didn't get a home town violin player, as the Who did.

@@michaelayliffe7238 What do you mean? Steve Wickham was from Dublin. Also well known for his work in the Waterboys, where he is by far the longest-serving member. I had the pleasure of hearing Wickham singing "Wonderful Copenhagen" at a Waterboys show there a few years ago. He apparently lived there for a while. It's good he mostly stuck to fiddle.

Real instruments?

This! Exactly!

Period.

"nearly unhinged passion"

I would love to hear that on YT

Yes One, With Or Without You and Miss Sarajevo live in Modena all sound better live. The band have honned their craft

I think their first four albums are their best. Maybe it's because I was experiencing them through my mid-teens to my early young adult years. In any case, they left a strong impression.

War is one of my top ten all time best albums of all time.

Bono doesn't have the voice to sing it as he should.

@@scizmeli They often play down a half to full step these days. I wonder if that's to allow for his range.

@@rjblaskiewicz Most likely , I would think - same w/Scorpions

@@rjblaskiewicz Bono lost big-time his amazing, powerful voice during the 97 Pop tour, just before the famous Sarajevo concert.... His voice never recovered fully ever since. I'm so sad still about it.

@@rjblaskiewicz Well, they've always played down a half-step. That's nothing new. Only song I know that goes a full step live is Pride, no?

"... and never disparages anyone" - except blockers.

@@laneadamson5686 Haha yes that’s certainly true.

Well said. I totally agree.

Being the record's A-side's last song, it's a filler song of sorts; you'd have to have the album and to listen to it thoroughly to really notice it. Nevertheless it is a very good song.

in those days the flight was deeper... and we was submerged on that music ...

@@sergiosaunier Yeah, you had to listen to the whole album - but that's what you did then. You (or, at least I did, and everyone I knew) put the needle down and listened till the end of the side, then flipped it over and spun the black circle again. Only rarely did you lift the needle early. Selections were what mixtapes were for... Aah. Those days.

@@Coynkydynk I second that!

That’s why U2’s music is christian rock music, whether they want to admit or not, and only christians should really be enjoying it. I say this as an atheist.

​@tango_blue , nahhh, anyone can enjoy it, I understand their meaning and being a follower since I hear this album, I'm not a Christian, I just love great tunes and lyrics.

Oh man The Unforgettable Fire gives me chills!!

I was just saying that I’ve always loved this song, because it has that ethereal feel like Unforgettable Fire, my favorite song of theirs.

And yet U2 ultimately rejected their evangelical happy clappy roots as they found that type of theology judgmental and not a good representation of what they believe God to be…

Whatever that's supposed to mean. The 3 members (Dave, Paul, Larry) are still today unapologetically Christians, and still call themselves a Christian band, in spite of Adam being an agnostic. The only thing they've rejected is people using religion to justify wars against other people groups. That's it.

​​@@hoderharris, that's too much of an oversimplification. The evangelical group of which Bono, Edge, and Larry were a part of in their teens (I recall its name was Shalom, but could be wrong about that) was not a "happy clappy" group, according to what band members have said. Rather, it was a group that encouraged (and expected) a very serious Christian commitment, so much so that Edge almost left U2 and became a missionary due to that influence. The band members parted with Shalom because in the end they came to believe, contra Shalom's view, that they could serve God faithfully and seriously as a rock-and-roll band. Even today, Bono (at least) sees that as the band's vocation; as he said in recent Sphere shows after imagery of Elvis during "Even Better Than the Real Thing," "This is an Elvis cathedral-the King's cathedral. But we have come here to serve the King's king." Bono also over the years has continued to meet with evangelical authors whose books he loves amidst his travels (e.g., Philip Yancey, the late Eugene Peterson); Bono even wrote an introduction to Peterson's scholarly paraphrase of the Bible, The Message, back in the late '90s. The band members departed Shalom, but Bono (at least) retains substantial evangelical influences and connections.

@@cw9817 I like to think of myself as a believer so my comments are not anti faith as they are based on interviews that Bono has given in which he is actually quite suspicious of organized Christianity as he often refers to it ( organized Christianity) as a “club” . A club he goes on to say , that has a really bad track record of hurting those who are not like minded. The fact that evangelical worship leaders think that U2 is somehow on board with their gig is quite amusing to me….Yes Bono had a strong relationship with Peterson..but, it was the evangelical borderline fundamentalist group Shalom that told Bono and the band mates that being a “Christian” was incapable with rock music . As I believe you acknowledged , U2 ultimately rejected this strange and narrow version of Christianity..( seems odd for a Christian group to point fingers of purity as Jesus himself got into trouble because of the company he kept) Bono grew up with one foot in the Catholic Church and one foot in the Anglican church( Church of Ireland) if anything Bono speaks most fondly of his Anglican experience more than any other organized religion. The Anglican Church has a strong tradition of being very open to God in culture, unlike the American evangelical churches… Look, I am not a spokesperson for Bono and honestly dont care at this point what he believes ( i read his fairly new autobiography and stopped reading it when he expressed to his viewers that everyone should have a villa in the south of France so they can unwind and be creative like he is…ok this a slight overstatement of what he said, but it is very very close to what he wrote…imo he has become out of touch with how most people live) I do find it strange however, that the evangelical church lays some claim to him when from all accounts he is anti any theology that excludes others because of a narrow definition of faith…

@@hoderharris , yes, Bono is very (in general) distrustful of "organized religion." He seems most comfortable with progressive churches (e.g., the one in San Francisco that he said he could be a part of), but comfortable enough with the Church of Ireland that he raised his children in it to some degree. Also, U2's longtime on-the-road chaplain (and the band pretty much always has had a chaplain with them on the road; they reportedly pray before every concert,) was a Church of Ireland minister, I believe. My point is, though, that even with the distrust, Bono still carries on with many individualistic practices common to evangelicalism: Bible reading, prayer, et al. His lyrics largely center around conversations with God (a few years ago, Rolling Stone magazine reported that Bono told another artist [Adele, if I remember correctly] that all of his songs are in some way about God), and close associates/friends of him and the band have said that faith is the one thing that centers Bono and is the hinge point of his life. Bono obviously finds commonality with more intellectual evangelical authors such as Yancey and Peterson. Bono's faith is very individualistic, to be sure, but he clearly is still influenced by evangelicals and evangelicalism. I agree with you that he can't be said to be an evangelical per se; on the other hand, I don't see evangelicals doing that often today

You dated Mia Zapata?

@@josephgreble5 , yes, for five years..

Similar experience here. Saw them on the Achtung Baby tour at the Vet in Philly. 30 years later, it’s still one of the best music experiences of my life.

I WAS THERE!!!!!!!!!

I saw them on the same tour. I loved that band. I had their poster on my wall and I wore the shirt from that concert every other day for a year. Then they betrayed me. They started to really suck. I tried to get into them again, but just couldn't. I even bought one of their albums in the 90s. I just couldn't get past one listen. Pure suck.

Same here!

@@alukuhito I hear you, but I didn’t feel that way. I liked every album up to/including HTDAAB. After that, I agree, they just lost something.